Human-environmental interactions in ancient Cyprus.

During the Late Bronze Age (ca. 17th-11th century BCE), Cyprus played a crucial
role in the Eastern Mediterranean trade networks. One of the important
settlements at that time was Hala Sultan Tekke, located in SE Cyprus. Although
Hala Sultan Tekke itself has been the subject of more than 40 years of
archaeological research (including from the VUB), to date little systematic
research has been conducted into the relationship between this site and its
hinterland. This pattern is not unique, as within archeology there has
traditionally been a strong sampling bias towards urban contexts, while the
contemporaneous dynamics in the surrounding countryside have received less
attention. In the last decades, it has become clear that the countryside is much
more complex than once thought, and that it encompassed a variety of humanenvironmental interactions, which makes its study more overdue than ever.
With a new research project from the VUB, the aim is to place Hala Sultan Tekke
in a spatial, temporal and environmental context. Based on new archaeological
surveys and landscape/environmental reconstructions, research will be carried
out on the complex interplay between settlement dynamics, socio-economic
activities, human impact on the landscape and environmental changes over
time. Therefore, this project will not only generate knowledge on humanenvironment interactions within past communities, but have relevance for
informing sustainable strategies for the future as well.